In commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on September 24, we are presenting testimonials from Jetsunma’s students about her impact on their lives.

Part 4

I could continue – tell you of the miracle small dog who barely survived the Hurricane, and upon picking her up – Jetsunma realized she had given up hope. This is a dog I noticed among 130 other dogs, and she was completely SHUT DOWN. She would not eat, walk, poop, sniff. She sat in her pen and stared blankly into some unknown darkness.

I moved her to a quieter place away from the noise of all the other dogs and pointed her out to one of the lama’s attendants simply so somebody other than me knew there was a dog that seemed so lost and sad.

The next day, Jetsunma had an interview with the Arizona Republic to discuss why we Buddhists had converted our retreat center into this pet refugee camp for Katrina survivors. During that interview, I happened to look down from the upper runs of the dog pens and saw Jetsunma lovingly holding the dog that I was so worried about. I almost burst into tears, knowing about the rarity of that type of direct connection to a being recognized as a reincarnate lama. As I observed this scene, my heart opened to the miracle of this one dog – who through a horrible storm, met with a being so rare as Jetsunma. As I turned to continue feeding the hundreds of other dogs, the lama’s attendant appeared next to me and pointed to the dog that Jetsunma had held in her arms only moments ago…

“Jetsunma says that dog has all but given up hope, she is overwhelmed and shut down. She needs to be taken inside and we have to find her a home quickly.”  Without thinking twice I said “please, let me take her in!”

Challenge after challenge, this dog, who we named Joy as an aspirational name at the time, has become the embodiment of that word. She has been a trooper through awful medical needs and still wags her tail and looks so lovingly at John and I every day with her one good eye. She finally not only stopped growling at Sarah every day but became a loving little sister to her. She is my second child and both Sarah and Joy were gifts from the miracle of our connection to Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo.

John and I had separated as a couple long before the Hurricane. And once again, by introducing a dog into our care – Jetsunma was about to bring John and I together again!

I have therefore seen with my own eyes all the miraculous proof I need that not only has this teacher provided the nuts and bolts of the unbroken lineage of accomplishment through the Palyul lineage, but the daily application of compassion in our very American lives. The miracle of kindness is something that she not only teaches, but lives – with every fiber of her being.   

In commemoration of the 21st anniversary of the enthronement of Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo on September 24, we are presenting testimonials from Jetsunma’s students about her impact on their lives.

Part 3

There are SO many other incidents of these sublime moments… answers to questions about where to spend my time and efforts, how to proceed on the path, gossamer tastes of the thin line between this reality and another. I recall how Jetsunma encouraged some of us to go down to the Katrina aftermath when I personally was going through the loss of a job – and that experience of the trip to New Orleans was replete with miracles.

From not knowing where we were going to even stay upon arrival, Jetsunma’s guidance lead us to a woman named Katrinna Huggs (yes that was her name, spelled differently than the storm but the coincidence was undeniable) who lived at Bayou de Zairre just above the Lake Poncetrain causeway…We only found her because she had a STUPA in her back yard, and one of our traveling companions kept communicating back to our main temple in Poolesville until we found a phone number to visit this stupa. When we arrived – to ask only if we could see her backyard stupa – she (barely knowing what a stupa or we crazy Buddhists were, or why we wanted to see her stupa) hesitantly agreed to have us stop by and see it.

While she prepared her lunch and offered us a meal – we asked if we could clean the stupa which was in need of some simple upkeep and weeding around its perimeter. As we washed and worked around this image of Buddhahood, making prayers to our lama and dedicating the merit to those who had been hit so hard by this storm… the lama who oversaw the construction of this particular stupa just HAPPENED to call Katrinna to see how it had done in the storm. Katrinna says she had not heard from him in years and was very amazed by the synchronicity that we were cleaning and paying attention to it and she hears from this teacher who she barely knows.

She graciously invited Sam and I to stay there with at least a half dozen people who were en route from Sedona.  In addition, she allowed us to erect a compound in her back yard and bring refugee animals rescued from the aftermath of the Hurricane in New Orleans to be triaged in her backyard.  It was such an amazing time of trusting in our teacher’s instructions (which were frightening as we looked at the destruction and chaos of the area), and that trust lead us to a woman with 4 acres of paradise in the middle of all this destruction and storm fallout.  (Tomorrow – Part 4 – Joy in the midst of Tragedy)